If you are a sakura fanatic like I am, then visiting the cherry blossoms around Tidal Basin in Washington D.C. is probably at the top of your list. Last year, I decided I was going to finally see the famous cherry blossom bloom in our very own nation’s capital. I’ve been to Japan twice already during cherry blossom season, but this was going to be the first time experiencing it in the U.S.

Cherry Blossoms Around Tidal Basin

When to Go See the Cherry Blossoms

This is probably the most stressful part. The cherry blossoms only last for about one to two weeks before the petals start to fall. Depending on the weather, it can drastically change from one minute to the next. There’s even a whole website dedicated to the cherry blossom forecast and when they predict “peak bloom” will be. Since I was flying all the way from Los Angeles, I couldn’t easily figure out when would be the best time to go. I probably had four airline tickets and three different types of hotel reservations booked just hoping I landed during peak bloom.

In the end, the peak bloom ended up coming earlier than all of the flights that I booked! I was pretty disheartened since I prepared for almost two months and I still missed the peak bloom by a couple of days. With that being said, I would rather arrive a couple of days late than come too early. I actually like watching the cherry blossom petals fall to the ground. It almost looks like snow or you feel like you’re in an anime of some sort. The first time I went to Japan, I went too early and most of the cherry blossoms hadn’t bloomed yet so that was more of a disappointment.

Where to Stay Around Tidal Basin

There are a lot of places around Washington D.C. to see cherry blossom trees but the most famous is Tidal Basin. As someone who is visiting Washington D.C. and who doesn’t live there, I wanted to make sure I got my full share of cherry blossoms so I wanted to stick close to Tidal Basin. If you’ve been following this blog and my travel journeys, you would know that I’m an avid Hyatt hotel fan. I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card and I literally use all my points for Hyatt stays. This trip was no exception!

I decided to stay at the Hyatt House Washington DC / The Wharf because it was roughly a 15-minute walk to Tidal Basin. Also, the wharf area had a lot of shops and restaurants in case I got bored at night and needed something to do. The hotel is only a category 3 hotel which meant that on “average,” the point redemption would only be around 12,000 points per night. This is a steal when room rates are going for over $500+/night!

What to Wear

The first day I was there, it was freezing! I had gloves, a wool coat, and a beret, and I was still cold. It was so cold that my nose started to run. With that being said, the weather did fluctuate a lot. At the start of my trip, the weather was in the low 50s and a couple of days later, it was in the mid-70s. I would highly suggest you pack for both instances because the weather changes pretty fast. Also, no matter what, the night temperatures will be pretty low still.

Where to See the Best Cherry Blossoms Around Tidal Basin

I was there for five whole days so I definitely got to know where you can find the best cherry blossoms around Tidal Basin. Every day, I would wake up and start exploring where the best places were to take pictures of cherry blossoms. I was already past peak bloom so I wanted to make sure I took as many pictures as I could at the beginning of my trip. I’ve made a map below of what I think the best spots are in and around Tidal Basin.

I do recommend everyone to walk around the Tidal Basin at least once because you might have a different perspective of what you think is the best shot. For me, I wanted to take pictures with the cherry blossoms so my goal was really to find a bunch of trees together with the most flowers. Other people might want to take just landscape shots. It really depends on what you want to do!

In the end, my favorite place for cherry blossoms wasn’t even in Tidal Basin but in East Potomac Park. Tidal Basin gets really crowded so you’ll have a lot of people in your pictures. If you just want yourself in the pictures then I highly suggest going to East Potomac Park.

Pictures